Not A Bot: X To Charge New Users $1 Annually In New Zealand, Philippines, As Part Of A Test Subscription To 'Fight Bots'

X announced Tuesday, it's testing an annual $1 subscription as part of a so-called “Not A Bot” program, in New Zealand and the Philippines. To create a new X account in either of these two countries, you'll have to pay a yearly $1 fee.

"Starting today, we're testing a new program (Not A Bot) in New Zealand and the Philippines," X @Support wrote in a post Tuesday. "New, unverified accounts will be required to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post & interact with other posts. Within this test, existing users are not affected. This new test was developed to bolster our already successful efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity, while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount. It is not a profit driver. And so far, subscription options have proven to be the main solution that works at scale."

According to the 'Not A Bot' blog on the X Help center page, on verifying their phone numbers and paying the annual fee, "New users will be able to perform certain actions on the web version of the platform: post content, Like posts, Reply, Repost and Quote other accounts’ posts, Bookmark posts."

And users "who opt out of subscribing will only be able to take 'read only' actions, such as: Read posts, Watch videos, and Follow accounts."

X owner Elon Musk confirmed the program in a post: "Correct, read for free, but $1/year to write. It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users. This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform," he wrote.

Critics have warned that given potential users any such monetary friction may drive them to alternative platforms like Gab, Truth and Meta's new X clone, Threads.

People are used to free access to social media, critics point out; and some who are already looking to leave X because of the new owner, may finally decide to make the jump to Threads, instead of giving their financial information to the social media company. This may lead to overall reduction in engagement and number of users on the platform.